‘Municipalities of hope’ list down slightly in numbers as virus spreads

While humans deal with outbreaks of the coronavirus, rabbits and hares in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States are suffering from a viral threat of their own.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader) reports that so far rabbits and hares both domestic and wild have been diagnosed with a type of hemorrhagic fever in the states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango and Sonora.

The federal agriculture sanitation authority Senasica first confirmed cases of the rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 in rabbits in Chihuahua in April. Since then it has detected 36 cases among domestic rabbits and 11 in wild hares, the latter being found in the states of Chihuahua, Durango and Sonora.

Health authorities ordered immediate action to deal with the problem, including culling infected populations and sanitizing areas where sick animals have been.

Labs operated by Senasica have tested 147 domestic rabbits and 22 wild hares, and veterinarians have tended to 52 potential cases reported from 12 states.

The virus is not native to Mexico, and experts from both sides of the border agree that it is highly contagious and lethal for rabbits and hares, but cannot be transmitted to humans or other animals.

To mitigate the spread of the virus, health authorities are advising cuniculturists, or rabbit breeders, not to transport sick or dead rabbits. Restricting nonessential persons or other animals from accessing breeding pens and avoiding buying rabbits of unknown origin will also reduce the spread of the disease.

Source: 24 Horas (sp)

Filmmakers save fund designed to promote industry

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May 22, 2020

Filmmakers, from left, Cuarón, Iñárritu and del Toro argued successfully against elimination of fund.

Mexican film industry leaders have persuaded the federal government not to touch a stimulus fund that supports film projects.

Three award-winning directors and other prominent figures in the industry held a virtual meeting Thursday with the Chamber of Deputies culture and cinema commission to protest a plan to eliminate Fidecine, the Cinema Investment and Stimulus Fund.

Members of the Chamber of Deputies had earlier this week proposed the elimination of the fund under coronavirus belt-tightening measures, but the assembled actors and directors were able to convince deputies otherwise through impassioned arguments about the importance of film as an industry and its essential place in Mexican culture.

“If the government is allowed to do this, it’s truly a devastation within a structure of an already very fragile ecosystem. It’s like a deforestation,” Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro told Screen Daily in response to the proposed cut. He noted that support was necessary not just to foster artistic voices but to offer diversity at a time when Hollywood exports continued to dominate local box office.

“This economic crutch allowed first-time filmmakers to make movies – without it there would have been no new generation when I was coming up in the late 80s and early 90s.”

Del Toro was joined by multiple Oscar-winning directors Alejandro González Iñárritu and Alfonso Cuarón, who told the commission in a statement that the Mexican film industry “is a memory, window and mirror of our nation.”

After hearing their arguments, Deputy Mario Delgado announced that the funding would remain in place, and the government would continue to help support and grow Mexico’s film industry.

Fidecine was created in 1988 and has grown over the years to fund some 20% of Mexican films since 2002. The trust is valued at 223 million pesos or US $9.78 million.

Fidecine is one of 44 trusts, or fideicomisos, that lawmakers have proposed eliminating. Jointly they hold 91 billions pesos in funding (US $4 billion) for a range of initiatives, from filmmaking and scientific research to rural development and the protection of human rights.

President López Obrador proposed the trusts’ elimination in April, saying the money should be allocated to reactivating the post-coronavirus economy.

Souce: Screen Daily (en), El Universal (sp), Expansión Política (sp)

Five Pemex refineries are among world’s top polluters

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May 22, 2020

The Pemex refinery in Tula is one of the worst. It is located 90 kilometers from Mexico City.

Five of Mexico’s six Pemex oil refineries are among the 25 top polluters in the world for sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, monitoring by NASA satellites in 2018 shows.

Globally, the three top SO2 polluting refineries are located in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Singapore, respectively, but the Mexican refineries in Tula, Hidalgo, and Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, are ranked in fourth and fifth place.

Rounding out the top 25 are the refineries in Cadereyta, Nuevo León, in 18th place; Salamanca, Guanajuato, in 19th place; and Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas, 23rd.

Alejandro Villalobos Hiriart, an oil refining specialist and consultant, said that Mexican plants lack filtering systems called “scrubbers” which capture SO2 emissions. Other experts say that Mexico’s hydrodesulfurization plants, which use a chemical process to remove sulfur from refined petroleum products, are not adequately maintained.

Pemex’s black footprint poses a problem for the environment and for citizens, particularly due to the location of its refineries.

“One of the problems is that, for example, the Tula refinery is located about 90 kilometers from Mexico City in the metropolitan area and the prevailing winds cause all this contamination to flow into the Valley of México, causing a tremendous effect on people’s health,” added Villalobos.

SO2 gasses irritate the nose, eyes and lungs and can cause severe respiratory symptoms. SO2 is also a precursor to acid rain.

The NASA report shows that Mexico’s oil and gas activity, which in addition to crude oil refining includes the operations of oil fields and fuel-fired power plants, was overall the second most polluting in the world in 2018, producing 1,580 kilotons of emissions.

Topping the list was Saudi Arabia, which produced six times more crude oil than Mexico that year, and emitted 1,783 kilotons of pollutants.

There are approximately 700 oil refineries in the world.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Nearly 3,000 new Covid cases in one day; intensive care beds filling

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May 22, 2020

Covid-19 cases as of Thursday evening. milenio

The federal Health Ministry reported almost 3,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday and more than 400 deaths as hospitals in Mexico City come under increasing pressure due to the influx of seriously ill Covid-19 patients.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell reported a new daily high of 2,973 confirmed cases at Thursday night’s coronavirus press briefing, increasing Mexico’s cumulative case tally to 59,567.

He also reported 420 additional Covid-19 fatalities, four fewer than Wednesday’s record of 424. There have now been 6,510 confirmed Covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Based on confirmed cases and deaths, Mexico’s fatality rate is currently 10.9 per 100 cases, almost 70% higher than the global rate of 6.5.

In addition to the confirmed Covid-19 fatalities, López-Gatell said that 769 deaths are suspected of having been caused by the disease but have not yet been confirmed.

covid-19 cases and deaths — Columns 2 and 4 show the number of cases and deaths recorded each day since May 2. Columns 3 and 5 indicate total cases and deaths. milenio

Of the confirmed cases, 12,905 are considered active, the deputy minister said. There are also 33,291 suspected cases across the country, while the number of people tested has now passed 200,000.

The Valley of México metropolitan area continues to be the nation’s hotspot for active cases, with 3,339 in Mexico City and 1,376 in neighboring México state.

The Mexico City boroughs of Itzapalapa and Gustavo A. Madero rank first and second for active cases among Mexico’s almost 2,500 municipalities. Four municipalities that directly border the capital – Nezahualcóyotl, Ecatepec, Naucalpan and Tlalnepantla – rank first to fourth, respectively, for cases in México state.

As the coronavirus outbreak grows in the Valley of México – the combined number of active cases in Mexico City and México state increased by 24% over the past week – hospitalizations are on the rise.

López-Gatell presented data Thursday night that showed that 72% of general care beds set aside for patients with serious respiratory symptoms in Mexico City and 64% of those with ventilators are currently in use. Both percentages are almost twice as high as the nationwide occupancy levels.

The capital has the lowest availability of both general and critical care beds among Mexico’s 32 states while México state has the third lowest. Guerrero has the second lowest availability of general care beds while Baja California has the second lowest availability of beds with ventilators.

According to a map developed by the Mexico City government, intensive care beds are full at 31 of 44 designated Covid-19 hospitals in the capital and only one – La Villa Children’s Hospital – has “high availability” of critical care beds. The other 12 Covid-19 hospitals have a “moderate” amount of space available in their intensive care wards.

General care beds are full at 26 of the 44 hospitals and again only one has “high availability” of beds for new patients.

Mexico City has now recorded 1,754 coronavirus-related deaths, according to official figures, although media reports have claimed that fatalities in the capital are being drastically underreported.

The death toll in the capital is almost triple that of Baja California, which has recorded 637 fatalities, the second highest total in the country. México state ranks third for Covid-19 deaths, with 622 as of Thursday.

Mexico now has the 10th highest coronavirus death toll in the world, according to the John Hopkins University tally, having passed Canada after Thursday’s fatalities were reported.

With almost 95,000 Covid-19 fatalities as of Friday morning, the United States has the highest death toll in the world followed by the United Kingdom and Italy.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Veracruz hospital workers battle Covid-19—and poor-quality equipment

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May 21, 2020

Staples help prolong the life of a face mask at Veracruz hospital.

In Veracruz’s Covid-19 epicenter, health workers at one hospital say they are not just battling the contagious disease but also poor-quality personal protective equipment (PPE) that places them at increased risk of infection.

Health workers at the IMSS No. 14 High Specialty Medical Unit (UMAE) in Veracruz city told the newspaper Reforma that it has been a struggle to get any PPE at all but much of what they have received has been substandard.

“Since the [health] emergency started, it’s been difficult to deal with [IMSS] authorities to get equipment,” said one nurse.

“We had to protest twice so that they would pay attention to us. Then they finally gave us personal protective equipment but — what a surprise — it was of poor quality,” she said.

The nurse said that the medical goggles and Chinese-made face masks health workers received were not good quality, explaining that the masks tear easily. She also said that there is a lack of medical gloves at the hospital in the port city, where almost 40% of Veracruz’s 2,288 confirmed Covid-19 cases have been detected.

“If there are gloves, they’re large size ones. It’s very difficult to work with gloves that aren’t your size. It might seem like a little thing but it’s very hard to work like that,” the nurse said.

Due to the poor quality of the masks they were given, health workers have bought N95 masks using their own money and have even resorted to using staplers to repair damaged ones and thus extend the length of time they can be used, she said.

The nurse added that she and many of her colleagues have also had to purchase their own medical gowns.

As the healthcare staff have battled to save the lives of seriously ill Covid-19 patients, at least two of their colleagues have been infected and one of them lost his life to the disease.

An administrative worker died on Wednesday last week after testing positive for Covid-19, Reforma reported, and a nurse is hospitalized in a serious but stable condition.

The hospital also lacks other essential supplies such as rubbing alcohol and antibacterial gel, and some of the approximately 100 ventilators are faulty, a doctor said.

However, one thing the facility doesn’t lack is hospital beds, he said, explaining that 318 are currently available.

“Even though there are a lot of admissions, there are also a lot of deaths,” he said before questioning whether all Covid-19 fatalities are being reported by Veracruz health authorities.

“They’re not recording them properly; I think they lie in the statistics,” the doctor said.

According to the state government, 284 Covid-19 patients have died since the start of the pandemic, including 77 in Veracruz city.

However, the doctor claimed that there were more Covid-19 deaths at the UMAE during a two-day period earlier this month than those reported by the state Health Ministry for the entire city of Veracruz.

Despite the challenges and risks of working at the IMSS facility, one nurse responded bluntly when asked by Reforma whether she had considered “abandoning ship.”

“Abandon ship? Never! I love what I do and I feel happy to be able to help during this [pandemic].”

Source: Reforma (sp)

AMLO prepares to launch new index, an indicator of happiness, well-being

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May 21, 2020

Is everyone as happy as AMLO? His new index may provide the answer.

President López Obrador is preparing to launch an “alternative index” that will measure people’s happiness and well-being in addition to economic growth.

“I’m working now on an index to measure well-being, an alternative index to the so-called gross domestic product. I’m going to present a new parameter that will measure growth but also well-being and degrees of social inequality,” he told reporters at his regular news conference on Thursday.

“Another ingredient in this new parameter, this new paradigm, [will be] the happiness of the people. The technocrats won’t like it, … but if they don’t like it, it’s probably good for us,” López Obrador said.

“There are countries where the level of happiness is measured and that’s part of well-being. I’m making the formula, we’re going to apply it in Mexico. It’s a different measurement system and we’ll probably also contribute to having other parameters in the world in order to know if there really is well-being. … It’s not just about accumulating wealth and even less so if wealth accumulates in just a few hands,” he said.

“The distribution of income is what’s important, the distribution of wealth – well-being, in other words.”

In developing his new index, López Obrador said that he will consult with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and seek contributions from econometricians, mathematicians, economists, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists and other experts.

“… It’s something new, an interesting contribution; thinking about the return to the ‘new normal’ [from the coronavirus pandemic], we can’t continue living in the same way,” he said.

The president has long railed against using GDP growth as a sole measure to assess the performance of the economy and in turn people’s economic and social well-being, although he embraced it as a target when he took office

Despite widespread poverty, violence and a range of other social problems that trigger frequent protests, López Obrador has claimed that the people are “happy, happy, happy” with their lot in life.

However, with the coronavirus-induced economic crisis predicted to push as many as an additional 10.7 million people into poverty, happiness soon might not be as widespread as he thinks.

More than 750,000 formal sector workers have already lost their jobs due to the pandemic and an untold number of those who toil in the informal economy have seen their incomes plummet if not dry up completely.

Analysts and financial institutions are forecasting a deep recession for the Mexican economy in 2020, providing López Obrador with added incentive to attempt to divert focus from GDP figures that will almost certainly make for reading that is more “sad, sad, sad” than “happy, happy, happy.”

Source: Reforma (sp)

Investigation of Puerto Vallarta police urged for alleged abuse

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May 21, 2020

The woman who disobeyed coronavirus rules in Puerto Vallarta.

The Jalisco Human Rights Commission (CEDHJ) has asked Puerto Vallarta Mayor Arturo Dávalos Peña to open an investigation after a video circulated on social media of police officers violently arresting a woman for not respecting coronavirus guidelines.

The woman and a companion apparently went around police tape on the city’s closed waterfront area to take a selfie over the weekend and removed their masks to do so.

Officers asked the couple to leave the restricted area, which they say they were trying to do when they were arrested.

A man filmed a 57-second video of the woman being forced into handcuffs while a female police officer had her in a chokehold, then shoved her into a seat in the back of a pickup while she shouted and complained that the female officers were hurting her.

“Why are you arresting her?” the man filming the video kept asking a male police officer who tried to keep him away from the incident.

Policías agresivos de Puerto Vallarta detienen con violencia a una pareja de Turistas por caminar y quitarse el cubrebocas, violando sus Garantías Constitucionales. La joven fue golpeada y ahorcada @El_Universal_Mx @lajornadaonline @Notimex @QuadratinMexico @epigmenioibarra https://t.co/LNdlaj676B

— RG AVN13 🇲🇽 (@RGAVN13) May 18, 2020

“It is requested that the Commissioner of Public Security identify the police officers that intervened in the events and, where appropriate, carry out the corresponding administrative procedure guaranteeing their right to a hearing and defense,” the text from the CEDHJ states. It also cautions that officers must be trained to avoid harassing, threatening or intimidating citizens for not adhering to coronavirus restrictions.

The Puerto Vallarta police said in a statement on Tuesday that the couple were verbally aggressive toward arresting officers and had been drinking and disobeyed orders to leave the beach. Police said they paid a fine upon arriving at the police station and left in less than 40 minutes.

The mayor’s office admitted the officers involved were at fault for using force but stated that they were only enforcing state health measures.

Source: El Occidental (sp), Uno TV (sp), Mural (sp)

Statistics agency reports ‘significant increase’ in corruption last year

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May 21, 2020

Victims of corruption per 100,000 inhabitants (in thousands of victims). inegi

The federal government’s anti-corruption agenda has succeeded in reducing people’s perceptions of the scourge but has not actually curtailed it, according to a study by the federal statistics agency Inegi.

Published on Thursday, the biennial National Survey on Governmental Quality and Impact shows that 87% of those polled in 2019 believe that corruption occurs frequently in government institutions, a 4.1% decline compared to 2017, the second last year of the corruption-plagued administration led by former president Enrique Peña Nieto.

However, the Inegi study found that there was in fact “a statistically significant increase” in corruption in 2019 – the first full year of President López Obrador’s administration – compared to two years earlier.

Inegi found that 15,732 people per 100,000 inhabitants were victims of corruption in 2019, a 7.5% increase compared to the 14,635 victims in 2017.

The statistics agency also found that the incidence of corruption increased from 25,541 acts of corruption per 100,000 residents in 2017 to 30,456 in 2019, a spike of 19.2%.

Just under 60% of those acts were related to interactions between citizens and police, Inegi found. An example is a police officer asking for a bribe – the famous mordida – from a person who committed, or allegedly committed, a crime in exchange for not proceeding with a formal charge.

Inegi found that citizens also frequently experience corruption when completing bureaucratic procedures, such as applying for a new driver’s license or requesting a police clearance certificate, and in interactions with the court system.

A request to have the electricity connected or re-connected can also prompt a counter-request for a supplementary payment to ensure that the process runs smoothly, the statistics agency found.

Inegi determined that the total paid out by citizens in corruption-plagued transactions in 2019 was 12.77 billion pesos (US $555.6 million at today’s exchange rate). The figure is 64.1% higher than in 2017 when corruption-related payments totaled 7.78 billion pesos.

An average of 3,822 pesos (US $166) was corruptly plucked from the pocket of each person affected by corruption in 2019, Inegi said, a 56% increase compared to 2017.

The prevalence of corruption was found to be worst in Guerrero, Durango and Coahuila, where more than half the total population were found to be victims of corruption last year.

However, Guanajuato – Mexico’s most violent state – recorded the biggest increase in both the prevalence of corruption (the percentage of citizens affected) and the incidence of corruption (the number of acts of corruption per capita) between 2017 and 2019. The prevalence of the scourge increased 80.6% in the Bajío region state and the incidence surged 161.2%.

The prevalence of corruption also increased in Puebla and Durango but declined in Chihuahua, Tabasco and Zacatecas. The incidence of corruption went up in Puebla, Quintana Roo and México state but declined in Baja California Sur, Nuevo León and Zacatecas.

The data showing that overall corruption has not declined since the federal government took office is a blow for López Obrador, who has made combating the scourge the raison d’etre of his administration.

The government is “sweeping away” corruption from top to bottom like a staircase is cleaned, the president often quips.

But the Inegi data indicates that eradicating corruption – a practice engrained in many parts of government and society – is far easier said than done, even though López Obrador claimed last September that there was no longer any corruption within the federal government.

On a more positive note for López Obrador, satisfaction with the federal government increased to 47.2% of respondents compared to 45.5% in 2017 — when Enrique Peña Nieto was in power — and confidence in it doubled from 25.5% of those polled three years ago to 51.2% last year.

Source: La Jornada (sp)

Baja businesses investigated for water theft, illegal sewage discharges

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May 21, 2020